Slowly, almost grudgingly, Rai's memories faded away and he regained consciouness.

From his position on the floor, Rai could see some of what was going on. Kat was kneeling on the floor next to him, sobbing hysterically. Michael stood nearby, shouting angrily at Ben and waving his hands in frenzied movements. Ben looked somewhat confused.

The moment Rai sat up, his eyes widened . A massive, hairy black shape was picking itself up from the rubble and bits of glass on the other side of the room, snarling angrily as it shook off bits of debris from its coat. It looked somewhat like a wolf, but even more importantly....

No way....it can't be....Rai thought, half terrified, half amazed. 

It was the creature from his dream....his memories.....the one that had been standing over the ruins of his home.

Kat, noticing he was awake, stared at him. Then she burst into a fresh torrent of tears.

" Kat....Kat stop...don't you see it?" Rai asked her pointing to the creature on the other side of the room that, to him, seemed as plain as day.

Kat became even more hysterical. "Mike! Mike, I think he has a concussion, he's seeing things!" She said to her brother between sobs.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Well, gosh, call an ambulance, call the armed forces, I don't care!" he turned back to Ben and grabbed the old man by the front of his shirt. "Whatever you rigged in that window, you'd better fess up."

Ben sputtered indignantly. "You think I did that? You have quite some nerve, accusing people like that!"

Rai interrupted, shouting, "There's a MONSTER over there!!! Don't you even CARE?!"

All three of them stared at him. It was Michael who finally said something.

" There's nothing there, Rai."

Yes there is! Rai thought angrily to himself. Why can't they see it? They have to see it!

The wolf was crouched down on all fours, staring at Rai. Its teeth were bared, and it looked almost as though it was grinning maliciously at him.

Rai gritted his teeth. They HAVE to see it!!!

Abruptly, Kat emitted a bloodcurdling scream and pointed with a shaking hand at the far side of the room, where the wolf was. Michael abruptly let go of Ben's shirt and whirled about, eyes widening as he too saw the wolf.

Ben appeared startled, but kept his composure. He glanced at Rai once, then muttered, " Well....Old Silver's going to be surprised to hear about this."

Rai stared at Ben, startled, but the old man took no notice.

Before anyone could react, the wolf snarled and lunged across the room at Rai.

That might have something to do with the fact it is youtube, but....music videos!!! I went looking for music videos of songs I like, set to Anime shows, and I succeeded in finding one to FOUR songs. But :cry: I couldn't find one to "Who You Are" by Number One Gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW24krmYWSc

that one is naruto....other than the irritating advertisements that pop up in the middle, it's pretty durned good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgemaHzRx9M

Super Robot Monkeys!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPDC3R_dlW0

Bleach...even if I haven't watched much of Bleach, this is still WAAAAY better than the real music video for the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMrehOiZSQA

THE PAPERTHIN FREAKING HYMN!!!! I FOUND something to it that didn't completely SUCK!!! There was only ONE Naruto AMV with this song, and it was AWFUL. There were plenty Kingdom Hearts videos with this song, but they were ALL awful. So, like the previous video, it's to a show that I haven't watched much...Full Metal Alchemist. But it's STILL better than the original video. However, the person who made the video....the idiot spelled Anberlin (the name of the band) WRONG!!! Can you tell it took me a while to find this?

I am VERY picky about my music and anything related!!!

All I can say to the flamers, as they ask me how I can be so emotionless and cruel in the face of their insults, is:

And they run away screaming :D

There was something going on, Rai knew.  There was the sound of Michael shouting angrily, while Kat was sobbing hysterically; somewhere, a window shattered...or was it a display case? Overtop of it all was a horrible howling. But it all seemed hazy and distant; Rai could only focus on the voices in his head, and the memories that were playing themselves out in his consciousness.

A young boy, four years old, sat in the living room with his fifteen-year-old sister. They were staring at a pile of old junk in the middle of the floor.

" I bet we can make something out of this!!" Rai told Ani excitedly. " Don't you?"

" Maybe..." Ani told him. To be honest, she felt that he was a little too young to be able to make anything out of all the rusty bits and pieces spread out before them.

" I know we can!!!" Rai exclaimed, and then proceeded to sort through the pile. He would pick up one piece, examine it, then throw it away; another, seemingly identical to the first, went in the slowly growing "keeps" pile.

Ani thought this was odd. " Why do you pick that one and throw away the other one? They both look the same."

Rai held up another piece and scrutinized it. " Some of 'em aren't any good. They won't work anymore." He threw away the piece he was holding and picked up another one.

" How do you know?" Ani asked him.

 Rai held up a piece of cable for her to see. " This one's broke, see? " He told her, pointing at a spot in the middle of the cable where bits of wire were poking through the covering. " That's how I know."

Ani stared at him. " Who told you that that meant it was broken?"

He continued speaking to her, but didn't take his eyes off the pile as he sorted through it. " The green monkey told me. But the blue monkey says it's stupid....with a lot of big words."

Ani was dumbfounded. " The...who?"

" The monkeys, Ani. There's a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, and a red one. They tell me stuff. Like the red one talks about flying, and being a pilot, and the yellow one talks about how stupid the red one is. And the green one's good at fixing stuff, and the blue one...I can't understand him most of the time."

" When do these...friends of yours visit?" asked Ani, worried.

Rai shrugged. " All the time." He looked over at the corner of the room. "See?" he pointed.

Ani followed his gaze, and, to her amazement, there was indeed some sort of monkey-like creature standing in the corner, watching them. But there was something strange about it. She didn't know exactly how she knew this, but upon closer examination, she realized that it was surrounded by a glowing nimbus of light.

The monkey-creature scratched its head embarrasedly. " Ah...hello..."

Another scene from his childhood flashed by.

 Rai's home was on fire. As the firefighters struggled to control the blaze, paramedics sealed up three body bags nearby. Rai himself was caught fast in the grip of a police officer, who had dragged him away from the body of his sister only moments before.

" ANI!!!" screamed Rai, struggling against the tight grip of the police officer.

His cries went unheeded. The officer handed him to a paramedic, then rushed off to keep bystanders away from the scene.

Rai began to scream again, but suddenly there was a ringing sound in his ears. He watched as, out of the blazing wreckage of his home, a huge, hairy shape rose up snarling, silhoutted against the light of the fire. The ringing became louder as, slowly, the figure turned to glare at him with a menacing, red-eyed gaze.

" Hey....is something the matter? " asked the paramedic, concerned.

Wordlessly, Rai raised his hand and pointed. The paramedic turned around, but saw nothing.

" Listen, you need to rest..." the paramedic told Rai, turning back around.

Rai stared at the black shape. He was confused that the paramedic couldn't see what he was seeing.

The last thing he saw of the menacing creature, as the paramedic shoved him into the back of an ambulance and shut the door, it was snarling triumphantly. And, even as the ambulance drove away from the scene, he could hear its piercing, terrifying howl of victory.

As they walked into the main lobby of  the museum, Kat was apparently, or so it seemed to Rai, dying to ask Ben a question.

Which, of course, she did.

"How come this place closed?" she asked the old man. He looked at her sadly.

" It was about a year ago...the government came in, declared this place condemned, and then waltzed right out without so much as a thought about what I would like," Ben told her. " They haven't actually set a date for tearing it down yet, though."

" So...what do you do all day?" asked Kat, still curious.

" Dust the shelves, fix the pipes, check the display cases....all routine little tasks to keep myself busy." Ben sighed. " It gets rather lonely, even with..." he stopped, then went on hastily, "even with my books to keep me company."

" Oh...." Kat said.

Rai thought that Ben was a rather odd old man, and perhaps a bit suspicious, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

Suddenly, Ben spoke. "I, ah, have to go check on those pipes....if you'll excuse me for a moment?" the old man rushed off into a nearby restroom without another word.

" O-kay...." muttered Michael. "Who else thinks this guy's a little off his rocker?"

" Shut up, Michael," hissed Kat. "He might hear you."

Ben poked his head out of the restroom door. " By the way, feel free to look around." He then spoke in a louder voice. "I'm sure you won't encounter anything STRANGE!" At that last word, he was nearly yelling. 

Michael mouthed the word "skitzo" at Rai, who nodded. Ben certainly seemed like a very...odd person. Kat gave them both the I-wish-you-weren't-stupid-like-all-the-other-boys look.

" C'mon," Michael whispered in Rai's ear, " let's get outta here." With that, he made his way through a nearby doorway and into the next room.

Rai followed. As he emerged into the next room, he realized that this was the same one he had seen outside.

" Well this stinks. Just a bunch of old stuff." Michael complained.

Rai wasn't paying attention. He was suddenly being plagued by a ringing in his ears that continued to grow louder by the second.

" This place is dumb! I knew we shouldn't have come here, " Michael continued, oblivious.

Rai couldn't hear him. The ringing was now so loud that it drowned out all other sounds.

Michael stared at him, suddenly aware that something was wrong. "Um....you okay?" he asked.

The ringing continued to grow, louder and louder, and it was now so loud as to be painful. As he clutched his head in pain, Rai wondered how come Michael didn't seem to have any reaction to the sound whatsoever.

Then, just as the ringing became unbearable, the nearby window shattered as something huge and black crashed through it.

" WHAT THE HECK?!" shouted Michael.

Rai couldn't stand it anymore. He shouted, still clutching his head in pain, and suddenly every corner of the room was filled with an explosion of bright green light.

Okay, so, having completed the numbering of my tiny dragons to thirteen, there are two more profiles to put up. And, to boot, Seelie gave me a Wyvern egg!

12.Phoenyx

description: male dragon, larger than average (two and on-half feet tall when standing on hind legs) is fiery orange with bits of yellow in places, yellow eyes, eagle wings, has two long spike-horns, has a long tail with a big....feather-thing on the end?

Powers, Talismans, etc.: has a ruby battle-pendant on a gold ribbon around his neck (as in, he can conjure flames from his paws and throw them around) and has the special power of being able to ignite on command, like blitz, and teaches fluffy and blitz how to use their powers.

Side note: in the literal, Phoenyx is Sylph's counterpart, Sylph being the moon dragon and Phoenyx being the sun dragon. In the practical, since Phoenyx is sort of part of the "Trials" group, he stands for, actually, not a trial, but conquest over the trials.

13. Echo

Description: female dragon,  average size (two feet tall when standing on hind legs) light blue, fin-like dragonfly wings, no horns or anything but has big sea-serpent crests instead, magenta-colored eyes, and a long tail with a fin on the end.

Powers, talismans, etc.: aquatic

1. Minerva

Description: female wyvern, dark blue with light blue eyes and white stripes on wings, and a white spot on her forehead.

Personality: quiet, curious, and thinks about stuff a lot.

Powers: cosmic, star-ish type stuff

After school the next day, Rai, Michael, and Kat took the bus to the Hyperforce Museum.

Unfortunately, judging by the sign on the door, it didn't look like they were going to get in.

" Closed- until further notice," Kat read aloud. " Aw....," she said, pouting.

Rai walked over to a nearby window and peered into the gloomy, darkened interior. There were dusty paintings hanging on the wall, and moth-eaten cloths covered the display cases; through a door on the far side of the room was what looked like a library of some sort. Rai thought he saw a movement in the library, but he couldn't be sure.

" Whatcha lookin' at? " asked Kat, peering over his shoulder curiously.

" Uh...nothing," Rai told her, but he continued to look in the window for any more signs of movement. He leaned on the wooden windowsill to get closer.

Kat decided to get closer to, and leaned on the windowsill as well. It creaked ominously.

It was then that Michael came over. " What're you two nerds lookin' at?" he asked, and then he proceeded to lean on the windowsill, too.

There was a loud sound of splintering wood, and the whole thing gave way, sending all three of them onto the sidewalk in a heap.

" WHAT THE-" shouted Michael.

" GET OFF ME!!!" cried Kat.

Rai, pinned facedown on the bottom of the pile, could only mumble something about " stupid termites."

" Well....hello there," said a new voice, coming from the direction of the museum doors.

Michael and Kat both stared at the old man at the door in amazement. Rai, though, was still pinned  facedown to the pavement.

" Uh...uh...hello," replied Kat, after getting over her surprise. "We, uh, came to visit the museum, but we thought it was closed....."

 The man looked to be between sixty and seventy years old, with graying hair and numerous wrinkles lining his face. He also sported a well-trimmed beard that was the same color as his hair.

" It is closed, actually." The old man sighed. " I used to be the curator of the museum, but now I just live here." He grinned. " I rather enjoy living around all these dusty old artifacts."

Kat tried to say something in reply, but nothing came out.

Oblivious, the old man continued on. "It really is a grand old place. Would you like a tour?"

" Uh...that would be...nice..." Kat replied, still slightly startled.

Michael nodded.

From the bottom of the pile came the sound of Rai mumbling something that sounded like, "I CAN'T BREATHE!"

Kat and Michael, realizing that they were still lying on top of their friend, hurriedly stood up. Rai, now free, gasped for air, then stood up as well.

" Oh, my!" the old man said suddenly. "We haven't been properly introduced! I'm Ben Jiro, curator of the Hyperforce museum. And what are your names?"

Kat gaped again. The old man's eccentric attitude was apparently more than she was used to handling.

" Um...I'm Kat, and this is my brother Michael," she told him, motioning towards her brother.

" Very nice to meet you!" the old man said cheerfully. Then he turned to Rai. "And..." an odd look came over the old man's face for a moment, but was quickly gone, "...And you are?"

" Um..." Rai regarded Ben suspiciously. Why had he had such an odd look? " ...I'm Rai."

" Well, very nice to meet you too!"  Ben said merrily. Perhaps too merrily. " Well, then, come on in!"

And with that began the " Tour de Hyperforce."

A flash of lightning, a thunderclap, and the rain began to pour.

The ghost simply stared at Rai for several minutes. After what seemed like ages, he finally spoke.

"Yes...yes, I do know your sister." he said. He then hung his head, as if he was weary.

Rai dared to ask another question. " Wh-who...who killed my family?"

" I cannot tell you." said the ghost.

" But..." Rai began, and then the bus pulled up, distracting him for a moment. When he looked back, the ghost was gone.

Wordlessly, Rai boarded the bus, payed for his ticket, and sat down. The cloaked figure did the same, choosing a seat in the very back.

There was no one else on the bus. Outside, the rain continued to pour, and frequent bursts of lightning would light up the now-dark sky, followed by loud thunderclaps. Inside the bus, it was complete silence.

As they drove into the downtown district, the contrast was apparent. Old, empty warehouses and dilapidated towers could be seen on either side, and the bus began to jolt and shake as it ran over ruts and holes in the pavement.

Rai wondered why the ghost had looked at him so strangely. And how the ghost knew his sister. He sighed; there were so many questions in his mind, it seemed ridiculous to think that they would all be answered. Or to think that any of them would be answered.

When the bus pulled to a stop on fourty-third street, Rai got off. And, surprisingly, so did the short person with the raincloak.

Rai realized that that guy had been at the bus stop when the ghost had appeared. And that he had shown no particular interest in anything until the ghost had appeared.

" Hey..." he said, turning around, but the cloaked figure took off running down the street.

" Um...." Rai decided to just forget it. He hurriedly walked through the door into the main lobby of Broadway Towers and made his way to Uncle Joe's apartment.

When he got there, his Uncle was sitting in the recliner watching football, as usual.

" Hey kid. Did you bring any food?" asked Uncle Joe, not even bothering to say hello.

" No," Rai replied coldly, going back to his room. Well, sort of. It was a one-bedroom apartment, and the one bedroom was obviusly Uncle Joe's. That being so, Rai's "bedroom" was the hall closet.

" Home sweet home, " he muttered, tossing his backpack in the corner and flopping onto the mattress.

" HEY!!! YOU'D BETTER MAKE SOME FOOD NOW OR I'M KICKIN' YOU OUT!!!" Uncle Joe screeched from the other room.

" Yep," Rai muttered darkly, " Home sweet home..."

After Michael and Kat had finished their meal, it had been agreed that they and Rai would go to the Hyperforce museum straight after school tommorrow.

Rai walked down the street. He was making his way home, and his first stop was the bus terminal on twelfth street, and then he would get off on fourty-third street. Then he had to ride the Broadway Towers elevator to the eleventh floor, where Uncle Joe's apartment was.

Rai wasn't particularly fond of Uncle Joe. The man was fat and lazy, and lived on welfare. After Rai's family had died, he had been force to move in with his Uncle, who was his only living relative on his father's side. But his Uncle was a jerk, and rarely bathed or even attempted to find a job. They lived in their tiny apartment, which was full of junk and smelled awful, and Rai found as many excuses as he could to get away from it. Not that Uncle Joe cared where he went.

Rai sat on the bench at the bus stop. It was beginning to get dark, and the only other person was a small figure huddled at the end of the bench under a heavy black raincoat. And a good thing for that person, too; Rai looked up at the sky and realized that it was about to rain.

The street was completely silent. There was not a single soul to be seen in either direction.

Rai continued to be lost in his thoughts. He wished that he knew how he had seen his sister's ghost; he wished he could see her again; and most of all, he wished he knew someone to tell him how.

For a moment, he didn't even notice the slight shimmering in the air nearby. The only person who noticed, it seemed, was the person under the raincoat at the end of the bench, who shifted slightly and lifted his head.

When the haze formed into the shape of a person, the figure at the end of the bench stiffened slightly, but remained silent.

Rai still hadn't noticed the apparition. It was not until the rain began to fall and he looked up that he noticed.

"What the...who..." he began. The hazy figure was a tall, dark-haired man in light-colored clothing. Rai couldn't tell what exactly what color because the whole image was tinted bluish. And he knew, without being told, that this was another ghost. Just like his sister had been.

The man stared at him sadly.

" I...uh....who are you?" asked Rai nervously.

The ghost was silent for a moment. "I can't tell you," he said finally. "But...." and here he glanced at the figure at the end of the bench," there are those who can...and will...."

Rai glanced at the cloaked figure as well, but it remained motionless.

Rai cleared his throat. " Um...do you...do you know my sister?"

"What're you reading?" Michael asked Kat in between mouthfuls of hamburger.

They were sitting at a table in the back of a fast food restaurant, where they had agreed to come after school for something to eat. Kat was picking at her fries, too absorbed with her book, and Michael was cramming down his third burger.

Kat had an odd habit of chewing on her reddish-colored hair when she was thinking. That was why, she said, she had had it cut short several months ago, and now kept it as short as possible. Her brother, on the other hand, had a habit of not chewing on his hair, and for that matter, not cutting it, or washing it, or much of anything. It was fairly long, and sometimes it went from red to a dull brown.

Kat glared at Michael. She had the kind of brown eyes that seemed like they could kill you if she got mad enough. Her brother, on the other hand, didn't have much of anything in his brown eyes.

"In the whole world, you're the only person I know who can carry on a conversation and a meal at the same time, without even breaking stride." Kat sighed and held up her book. "I'm reading about the Hyperforce."

"What's that?" asked Rai, curious.

"It's a legend about a team of bionic monkeys, along with their human leader, who saved their planet, and the universe, from an evil king. It's a really neat story."

"Oh please. I can't believe you're into that stuff." Michael scoffed. "It's just a load of fairy tales."

" You never know. It might be real," Kat retorted. "You yourself are just a bit unbelievable, but I still acknowledge that you exist."

" All that stuff you read is about as real as ghosts," Michael declared angrily. "Which means it's not."

" Who are we to say there's no such thing as ghosts?" asked Rai quietly, more to himself than to the other two.

They both stared at him. For several moments, there was an awkward silence. Then Kat spoke.

"We-Well....Michael, if you want to be a skeptic, then we'll just have to prove you wrong!" she said, hesitating at first but then gaining confidence. "C'mon! We'll go to the Hyperforce Museum tommorow after school!"

" There's no such thing," muttered Michael, rolling his eyes.

" Well we'll just see about that," she told him, grinning slyly. "Won't we?"